The Otherside
by TheOnlyJenThatCounts
Summary: How do we survive the deaths of our loved ones and what do those loved ones do in the afterlife? The war may be over but life can still hurt.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter. I'm just obsessed with the characters.

The Otherside

She was scared. Not the type she felt before a big exam or when standing in front of a large group of people talking scared but the bone crushing, am-I-going-to-die, pee your pants terrified. Everywhere she turned, she watched in horror as more and more of her friends and loved ones were felled by Dark spells. She felt the meager contents of her stomach threaten to return as she found Fenrir Greyback standing over Lavender Brown, his disgusting tongue lapping her classmate's blood out of the gaping wound at her neck. Hermione felt no regret in the second that it took for her to send the Killing Curse at the foul werewolf. Greyback was the first she killed. He wasn't the last.

Harry and Ron had stopped in shock when they had heard their best friend utter those two simple words but when they saw what had set her off they completely understood. This was war and the other side was not using defensive spells and minor hexes – they aimed to kill and the Golden Trio wanted – needed – their friends and family to survive this madness. The three teenagers rounded another corner and came face to face with Percy, George, and Fred fighting against some Death Eaters and the Minister of Magic of all people.

Hermione shot a look of pure relief at the fighting trio seeing that her secret love was still living – still fighting – hell the idiot was still making ridiculous jokes. _We will survive this._ Hermione thought right as the hallway exploded and she felt herself thrown into the air. She awoke a few minutes later to Harry shaking her shoulder, Ron, red eyed and angry, standing behind him. They didn't have time to process what was happening and she didn't have time to ask Ron why he was so upset before Harry was pulling them down to the shack to find the monster that had started it all.

What felt like hours later, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were finally making it back to the Great Hall to find out what the current damage was. Voldemort had allowed an hour of peace to collect their loved ones and basically decide if they truly wanted to give their lives up for Harry. Hermione was exhausted; covered in mud, sweat and a lot of blood she forced herself to continue on knowing that she had to find _him_.

The Great Hall was nothing like it usually was – usually it was a happy place where they all convened to have wonderful conversations while eating the mouthwatering food that the house elves of Hogwarts made for them. Now everywhere you looked, you saw bodies – so many bodies - of their friends, their family, everyone that made the world a better place littered on the floor with so many people crying over them. Suddenly Ron's tortured cry brought Hermione's eyes to a group of redheads standing towards the back of the hall. She watched in disbelief as Ron ran to the crying family. She counted the heads – two were missing. _Oh gods._

She felt as Harry started to pull her towards the Weasleys – he had to be there for Ginny and Ron – but Hermione was rooted to the ground. The twins – she couldn't see the twins. _Please not him._ She selfishly thought, hating herself the instant the horrible thought floated through her mind. Then it happened. The people blocking what was on the ground shifted and Hermione saw what her heart was hoping beyond belief to never see. _He_ was on the ground and _he_ wasn't moving.

The Weasley family was broken – a son, a brother, a wonderful friend – had been viciously torn from them. They all knew that this was a possibility. They were a very large family and none of them was willing to not fight for the hope of the Wizarding World that they loved so much. However it actually happening was something none of them had been prepared for. They were lost in their own small bubble grieving when they heard it – the wail of despair that would haunt them for weeks to follow. Their heads popped up and they stared in surprise at the source of the sound. Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, and one of the strongest people they knew was staring at Fred's body with unfiltered anguish.

"'Mione." It was the first word that George had uttered since they had brought his brother's body into the hall. His family watched with wide eyes as he suddenly stood up and stepped over to the shaking witch. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest where she began to sob. George cried with her, both of them falling to the ground. The family listened in confusion as the witch started talking to George.

"He promised. He promised me Georgie. Why did he break his promise?" Hermione cried, pushing her head harder into George. "He can't be dead. Fred can't be dead. HE PROMISED ME!" Hermione's entire body was now shaking violently with her sobs. The Weasleys and Harry were astounded at what they were hearing.

"I know love," George responded his voice raw. "He promised me too. He loved you so much 'Mione." He distantly heard the gasps of surprise at this revelation. No one but George had known about the love that had bloomed between the Gryffindor Princess and the Trickster Twin. They had gotten very close her fifth year and started dating her sixth. They had been at first worried about hurting anyone's feelings – especially Ron's and Mrs. Weasley's – but then Hermione became worried that Voldemort and his followers would use Fred to get to Hermione and Harry.

Hermione shuddered a bit and finally pulled away from George's body so that she could pull out a necklace from under her jumper. Dangling at the end of the chain was a simple diamond ring. Molly Weasley cried harder at the sight and clung desperately to her husband. "I was going to be a Weasley." Hermione whispered. "I was going to be _his_ Weasley. He promised me Georgie. How do we do this without him?"

"I-I don't know. I really don't know."

* * *

Harry Potter knew that he was a lucky man. He was given a horrible destiny before he was even able to talk but he had managed to pull through it and defeat the worst Dark Wizard the world had ever seen. He knew that he wouldn't have managed it without the support of his friends, especially his two best friends. Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were without a doubt the main reason that Harry was still breathing. He didn't know what he would have done without either of them and he never wanted to find out.

In the weeks and months that followed the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry watched as his friends fell apart and as they tried to push past what they had been through. Ron had lost his brother and he was trying to hold the pieces of his broken family together. George was a shell of the person he was before – he would only talk to Hermione and he had no interest in pranking, laughing, or even trying to fix their store in Diagon Alley. Ginny was clinging desperately to Neville Longbottom – not caring that her mother wouldn't approve of Neville sneaking into Ginny's room at night. The young redhead did not want to be separated from her boyfriend – too many had lost their loved ones. He watched as the woman he saw as his own mother furiously throw herself into fixing anything and everything she could – she had rebuilt her home, helped fix up Hogwarts, sent massive amounts of food to multiple families, and even began the reconstruction of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Whenever the plump housewife stopped moving she would suddenly break down in horrendous sobs.

However, he thought that Hermione had the worst of it. She had stopped talking after finding Fred's body in the Great Hall and from what he heard from others, she also became more reckless during the second half of the battle. He knew that Charlie Weasley had had to throw himself at her at least once when the dragon tamer witnessed the witch standing perfectly still as a Killing Curse was flung at her chest. The day after Fred's funeral, Hermione had finally spoken at dinner a short sentence.

"I'm going to Australia for a bit." She was gone the next morning. Harry and Ron had been the ones to explain to the family what she had done in order to protect her parents. The Weasleys were horrified that the poor girl had had to do such a thing and they were all reminded of her bravery and strength. She returned just seven days later – her hair bushier and deep bags under her eyes. The memory charm had been too strong. She had essentially made herself an orphan. She became a bit of recluse for a while, only speaking a few words here and there. While Harry and Ron began to finally add weight back on from their time on the run, Hermione started to lose even more. The whole family was concerned by the skeletal figure that she was becoming. Harry knew that every night the small brunette would put up the strongest silencing wards she knew of so that no one would hear as the small witch relived her time in Malfoy Manor in her dreams. Ginny had informed Harry that she had caught Hermione putting on glamours to hide the growing bags from not sleeping.

Surprisingly it was George that was able to break through to the failing witch. The two seemed to heal each other. George was slowly able to begin talking to his family about stories with Fred and he started to visit his shop. They all breathed a sigh of relief when one morning Percy came downstairs with bright blue skin and George had started to laugh so hard he could hardly speak. Hermione finally began to eat again and started to talk about what she wanted to do in the future. She still wore Fred's ring but she was able to tell the family more about how they had fallen in love without becoming a sobbing mess. She confided one night about her nightmares and everyone learned the horror of her torture by Bellatrix Lestrange. Mrs. Weasley had immediately pulled the young woman into a tight hug and told her what an amazingly person she was.

It had now been just over a year since the Battle and the end of the war and Mrs. Weasley had decided that they needed to throw a party for the green eyed savior for his 19th birthday. None of the Weasleys or Hermione and Harry had attended the ball that the ministry had thrown for the anniversary of Voldemort's defeat – they didn't want to relive that and honestly none of them had wanted to revisit Hogwarts. Although Harry approved of the new minister, Kingsley Shacklebot, he still hated the organization itself and did not want to be paraded around the bigshots of the Wizarding community who had honestly done nothing to help defeat Voldemort. The young Auror just wanted to move on with his life.

Harry looked around the brightly lit magically expanded living room and smiled. He had finally convinced Molly that he only wanted close friends invited to the party – something small and simple. He grinned when he saw Ron blushing the infamous Weasley red while talking to a very energetic Luna Lovegood. He saw Ginny pulling Neville off into a darker corner probably to snog the bemused wizard senseless. Neville had proposed to Ginny as soon as she had stepped off the Hogwarts Express the end of her seventh year. Harry himself blushed when his eyes met a pair of silver eyes and shook his head when Draco Malfoy winked at him causing Harry to blush even harder. That had been something that _no one_ had expected, though the majority of his closest friends knew that Harry was gay – they just hadn't expected him to fall for the Slytherin Prince of all people.

He did narrow his eyes when he saw George Weasley grab Hermione's hand and pull her out the back door of the kitchen into the backyard. He knew that the two had become even closer than they had been when Fred had been alive but he wasn't sure what exactly their relationship with each other was. Hermione had moved into the flat above WWW saying that she had decided to become a partner with George. She was helping him create new inventions and keeping the books. George had recently come to Ron and Harry concerned about Hermione, saying that she was receiving strange mail from an anonymous wizard. It was enough to be creeped out by but so far nothing threatening had been written so the Auror department couldn't do much about it. He turned in surprise when he heard George's voice coming from _behind_ him. Said wizard was walking from the front door of the house with Charlie and Bill.

"Hey Harry, have you seen Hermione? Charlie here won't believe me when I tell him that the Chameleon Chocolates were her idea," the brown eyed wizard said with a grin. George stepped back when Harry raised his wand at him. "Wha-?"

"What did Fred turn into a spider when Ron was three?" Harry demanded.

"Harry, what the hell?" Charlie said, edging towards the serious teen. Harry ignored him.

"What was it? Answer me now."

"His teddy bear. Harry what in the world is wrong with you?" George asked.

"You're George," Harry said fearfully. His eyes darted to the back door. "Oh gods, you're George."

"Yes, I'm the magnificent George," George replied with concern.

Harry's eyes grew even wider. "RON! OUT BACK NOW!" He turned to leave when Bill grabbed his arm, silently questioning the raven haired wizard. "I just watched Hermione get pulled out back by _George_."

"Impossible, I just got here." George shook his head.

"I KNOW THAT. That's why I questioned you!" Harry brushed off Bill's hand and turned again. "RON NOW!" He began running to the back door, wrenching it open and racing outside as Ron, George, Charlie and Bill all followed him. He whipped his head around trying to find her. Finally his eyes landed on a bushy haired girl that was talking to a man who looked exactly like George – missing ear and all. "HERMIONE!" Harry yelled.

Hermione glanced up at him, a small smile on her face. She noticed the obvious alarm on his face and was confused for a moment until she looked at the four redheaded men running behind him, wands raised. _That's impossible. I'm talking to George._ Her expression morphed into fear as she turned towards the man that had been talking to her so adamantly. She started to reach for her wand but was struck with the horrible realization that she didn't have it – the dress she was wearing didn't have a pocket and her holster had broken the week before and she hadn't had time to replace it yet. The man stepped closer so that the boys wouldn't be able to attack without hitting her as well.

"Looks like our time has ended. Took them long enough." The man said with a sneer. He no longer sounded like George and he was looking at her with undiluted hatred. He grabbed her shoulder and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I think I'll finish what my Aunt Bella started." Her eyes widened in comprehension just a second before she felt the pain in her stomach. The not-George pushed her away from him in disgust and quickly disapparated. Hermione looked down at her stomach and saw as a red circle was quickly growing in size. Her hands automatically went to the wound as her eyes found Harry's and she fell to the ground.

"HERMIONE!" Harry bellowed. He had felt his heart drop when he had seen the knife suddenly appear in the man's hand and felt his world shatter when he watched him trust the knife into Hermione. He collapsed next to her, his eyes taking in the ever growing bloodstain. "Hermione, you're going to be fine. It's alright, you'll be fine."

"Harry, we need to get her to St. Mungo's!" Bill shook Harry's shoulder. Harry nodded and with a CRACK both Harry and Hermione were gone. Ron and George both disappeared a second later. Bill and Charlie were left with the job of informing the party goers of what had happened.

* * *

It was the week before Halloween when Harry and the Weasleys received an invitation to watch the spirits. They were all positively shocked when the letters had been signed by the deceased Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. At first they had thought it was all a horrible joke but Mrs. Weasley had informed them all that it was a great honor to receive such an invitation as it came from the Otherside. Not many people were allowed to have glimpse into the Otherside and it could only occur on Halloween. The large family immediately thought of two people they would like to see more than anything: Fred Weasley and Hermione Granger.

It had been a year since the murder of Hermione Granger and still her killer had not been caught. Harry and Ron still spent their hours off searching for any sign of him or her (they had no idea as they had been under polyjuice the entire encounter) but it appeared as if the person had gotten away with it. Hermione's death had caused so much pain for the family. Poor George had gone back to how he had been when Fred had been killed – he had admitted that Hermione was what kept him from going insane, though he had assured them they were only friends. Ron had thrown himself into his work to find justice for Hermione, so had Harry – it had almost cost both of them their relationships with Luna and Draco. Moving on after Hermione had been harder than any of the Weasleys could imagine. They had all thought that they were safe.

That Halloween, eight Weasleys (Fleur stayed at home with her and Bill's infant daughter), Penelope Clearwater (Percy's fiancée), Harry, Draco, Neville, and Luna gathered in the backyard of the Burrow each of them holding onto to their individual invitations. At ten o'clock all of the pieces of parchment began to glow and they each felt a tug behind their navels as they were pulled to an unknown location. They all looked around in shock as they realized they were in the stands of the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts. The stands were surprisingly low to the ground, only a few feet or so up, instead of the normal level for watching a Quidditch match. Another shock was who was waiting for them. The new Headmistress Minerva McGonagall was looking back at them with wide eyes holding onto her own invitation.

Not knowing what else to do, the large group sat down in silence, none of them knowing what they were to expect. They had been waiting for nearly an hour, their impatience starting to show, when they saw lights beginning to form on the field in front of them. Harry gasped when he saw that the lights were forming into transparent people – people that he knew were dead. "Mum. Dad." He whispered with awe. He felt Draco grab his hand in support. More and more ghosts began to join the party on the clearing.

Harry watched transfixed as his parents stood next to Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Tonks – having an animated conversation. Sirius was waving his arms around as he regaled the people listening to him, his face lit up with glee. On the other side of the clearing stood Severus Snape and Regulus Black, listening as Albus Dumbledore was explaining something. Surprising to everyone was that Severus was actually smiling. Harry glanced at the Weasleys who were all watching the ground with confusion and excitement. Suddenly a soft melody began to fill the clearing. Harry turned back to the amazing event in front of them. He saw the attention of the deceased marauders change to the center of the clearing.

Two more balls of light had begun to shine. He heard the cries of happiness when Fred Weasley appeared and in his arms was an ethereal Hermione, her head thrown back as her body shook with laughter. The living watched with tears rolling down their faces as Fred spun Hermione out into a full circle before pulling her back closely into his arms. They laughed when Fred dipped Hermione dangerously low and he wiggled his eyebrows at the smiling witch who gently smacked his arms. Fred pulled them back up but they were interrupted as a large black dog dashed between them as Lily Potter chased after Sirius, her wand held out as the rest of the group laughed heartily. Harry grinned as he watched Hermione shake her head at the antics of her new friends. Fred had already started to pull Hermione back into their dance and Harry could see that Fred was saying something to the happy woman.

No one could hear any words coming from the party of the dead but everyone who had been invited could see how Hermione Granger and Fred Weasley were looking at each other. They may not have been able to know everything that Fred had said to Hermione that night but all of them could read his lips as he said three small words. _I love you_. And they all saw as she responded with those same three words, a brilliant smile on her face. Right before midnight, Fred dipped Hermione one last time, lowering his face to hers and connecting their lips and exactly at midnight the living watched as the portal to the afterlife closed and their loved ones disappeared again. But now they all knew that everything would be alright. They knew that the ones that passed on were happy and they were together. They could finally begin to heal again.


End file.
